Team GB’s rowers impress in Paris Olympics heats to prove medal potential

The golden days may still be to come, in more than one sense, but Great Britain’s quest to rule the waves once again has discernible momentum. Rowing was a sore point at Tokyo three years ago but this year’s brood made a more than satisfactory start at a sodden Vaires-sur-Marne facility whose crowd, huddled under umbrellas for much of the four-hour session, nonetheless exuded opening-day enthusiasm.

It was the women’s quadruple sculls crew, racing in the day’s final heat, that pointed tantalisingly towards a return to the era when Olympic medals were second nature. Georgie Brayshaw, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Lauren Henry have world and European titles to their name but strange things can happen when the focus intensifies and immortality lies within reach.

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They saw off a strong-finishing German boat by three-quarters of a length, having edged ahead 500 metres into the 2km race, and will be highly favoured in Wednesday’s final. The Netherlands, who overcame a similar late burst from Ukraine to win the first heat, look well placed to push them strongly.

“It feels exciting, we’re pleased to get that first race down and take the win,” Henry said. “We’ll focus our attention on preparing as best we can for the final. That’s where the big dance is, and the race we’ve been preparing for all this time.”

If the rain was a nuisance it barely showed on a course that was praised by athletes and team hierarchy. “No complaints,” said Matt Haywood, whose men’s quadruple sculls team finished second in their heat and can look forward to their own showdown in four days’ time. “It’s a brilliant venue and a quick, warm lake.”

While the deluge around Paris during the previous 18 hours meant some ground near the banks was waterlogged, the course itself remained clean and relatively calm. The layout and facilities at France’s national nautical stadium have gone down well among the British contingent and the start of the competition was notable for its lack of stumbling blocks. Great Britain are perfectly used to training in the rain and Haywood pointed out that they prepared for the Games at altitude, amid variable conditions, in Austria.

There was satisfaction, too, with the showing of Haywood and his crewmates Tom Barras, Callum Dixon and Graeme Thomas. They could not catch a Netherlands boat that will take some beating on this evidence, but were clearly heartened by a punchy second half that drew them to within a length and a quarter of the winners.

“The Dutch are always strong,” Haywood said of the world and Olympic champions, who pipped Great Britain to top honours in Tokyo. “But we definitely feel we can be a lot closer to them. Obviously we’re aiming to beat them and I think we can do that. We’ve got some stuff to work on in the first ‘K’ but definitely [want to] keep that second ‘K’, which was much stronger.”

Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, the first Britons out on the water, were pipped to first place by New Zealand in the women’s double sculls. That should not detract from an encouraging performance in which they led until about 120 metres from the finish.

It means they await a semi-final on Tuesday and may be counted among the medal contenders, although a formidable Romania boat of Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis cruised through their heat with a six-and-a-half-second margin to second and will be tough to displace for gold. “From all three heats, the results are just all over the place, so I honestly can’t predict who’s going to be in the final,” Hodgkins Byrne said.

During a mid-morning intermission between rain showers the women’s singles sculls world champion, Karolien Florijn, of the Netherlands, eased through her heat. The third heat brought a repeat of the final Tokyo 2020 one-two, the New Zealander Emma Twigg holding off Anna Prakaten, although the latter’s presence may raise eyebrows.

Prakaten, who was born in Belarus, competed for Russia when winning her silver medal in Japan. She has switched nationality to Uzbekistan, owing to the sanctions placed on Russia’s athletes since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The change was rubber-stamped by the IOC a week ago.

Helen Glover’s return to Olympic action in the women’s four heats will be among the highlights of a packed Sunday schedule. The weather forecast is considerably brighter and Great Britain’s prospects of banishing Tokyo from their memories appear to be too.